Zimbabwe vs England | Only Test | 22 - 25th May 2025

[ZIMDOGGY]

Has the door closed on Higgins? Or has he closed the door. There will be a lot of middle order depth retiring in a few years. He would add so much. And regardless of whether the perceived quota is real or not there would be less of an issue with all the whites leaving in bringing in another white player.

It sounds like a lot of whites leaving
Ervine and Williams will be around for a bit longer...probably.
BT will be putting his hand up, probably at NW's expense.
There's Welch Jr who will knock on the door shortly, unless they keep trying to keep him out the picture and he jacks it in.
There's both campbells.
Burl.
Byrom might return at some point?
Its not a perceived quota, its real. They want a black guy in the top 4, trust me on that. This blacks bowl and whites bat looms large. It gives them sleepless nights. They've got some really good black guys waiting as well- Kaitano, Bawa, Myers. They are good players and can easily make the step up as batters. Welch is on the shortest rope, followed by Curran, followed by Bennett, who if he fails will get another go down the order. They're going to mess around with this top order very soon. Welch probably has to score in his next two innings which is grossly unfair, ditto Curran.
Maru I rate highly despite his failures.
Madande they will give chances to forever. Beyond me.
Shumba? There's plenty of good guys.

The problem is, as we've seen, its a big step up. Wes has threatened, he likes where hes batting. NW will threaten, Bennett may have crossed the threshold, Curran borderline.
Bennett will make it.
I think NW will make it only if they give him a fair go and let him clear his head. You can't bat for your spot every time you play, you'll have a nervous breakdown
Curran I'm on the fence.
Myers will get a go shortly if Welch fails.
Ditto Kaitano and Curran.

I genuinely thought they’d put the quota away this game, it was a good chance to ‘prove’ one doesn’t exist and now you have just been eyeballed by a major cricketing nation.

I don’t buy the ‘Wes is such a fresh fielder’ argument. 12th man can field.

[AussieZimFan]

If Ervine does get dropped/retires after this game, they'll make Masakadza or Madhevere the captain so they can't be dropped.

[TapsC2]

To be honest this game is going pretty much how everyone expected. It had 600/5 declared written all over it. Especially after last weekend. The pitch is flat. The question they had to ask themselves was for us to get a draw are we better off with an extra batsman or try have more bowling options to limit the carnage. So far with Ngarava injured I think it was the right call.

This is our level. That's just the truth. Same thing would have happened if we played a full strength India in India. The key for us to get a draw here is the 3 senior players holding their own with the bat.

Wes picked up a wicket but people still think it was the wrong decision

[tawac]

So Zimbabwe got pommeled on day one by England. It was always going to be the case whichever Zim side one would have put out for this game. Such is the gulf of class between these two sides. Granted our bowlers fell short and completely failed to maintain a good line and length. Lack of skill perhaps. Only Muza and Raza showing some fight. Its difficult to except anything different from the batters too. The cries for having left out so and so will continue. Seriously doubt there is a version of a Zimbabwean side that could have given a better account.If England choose to declare overnight this game can be rapped up by tea on day two.

[Googly]

Everyone goes from high to despair in seconds. Yesterday was a bitter day for me, I had high hopes.
I was hoping Bhunu and Richie would take some early wickets and we'd put the cat amongst the pigeons. Its always possible. Ireland have beaten England. We can beat Ireland. We can beat a good side if we have a great day.
Bowlers generally win matches. We beat Australia not so long ago. The two guys that did the damage aren't playing though.
What was the goal here? You have to believe you can win and the game plan shouldn't be a draw. If that was the plan that's Sammonds worried about his job and management/selectors worried about getting embarrassed. If you dont want to feel your skin itch pick the right players.
They do the wrong things back home and then its crisis time when we play a big team then its all forgotten after a bottle of green label and they go back to their politics.

After watching our bowlers in Bangladesh and in this warm up game you have to wonder at their inability to bowl consistently. Those young county bowlers were generally better. As fast and significantly more accurate. Are our guys just inaccurate or are they not following the plan? There's a bit of both. Once again Craig needed to be at mid off and they need to listen or take a seat.

Now you guys are predicting not one, but two spectacular batting collapses inside of a day. C'mon. We've got decent batters, the deck is good and they must fight.

I dont recall anyone here calling for Wes to make way for NW, Taps. He's making progress where he is.
The call was whether to play the extra bowler or not. In hindsight it was not a bad call because Ngarava is probably injured, although he did come back onto the field. We're an hour from a declaration and the damage is done anyway so still debatable. Most people would still have liked to see NW bat though. Most people in Zim and most county players were watching with interest. If he doesnt make it as one of our front line batters our cricket is really fucked, that's the absolute truth of it. If he doesn't make it who else is likely to? He's the most determined, introspective, hardest working cricketer we've got by a country mile. He deserves to do well. Instead hes batting for his career every time he crosses the rope, its sad, nobody can survive that.
Bennett has to make it, Curran, Wes, Dion, Maru, MW etc
or the cupboard is empty.

Raza bowled ok, that darting, defensive leg stump line to slow down the bleeding, Blessing was good, but we haemorrhaged elsewhere.

For me the big takeaway from this is the selections have to be correct. We cant keep playing selection games forever, we're on the slippery slope. I'm talking specifically about Evans here. If theyre going to say- well he wouldn't win us the game, we're wasting our time. Its a game of mm with the best players contributing. Hes our most accurate bowler by miles and we need him to complement Blessing. NW needs and deserves a free rein for a while in all formats. Hes a good batsman. I believe he's one of the key players to our continued existence as being vaguely competitive occasionally. They're slowly dismantling him as they've done to many batters, both black and white, with poor management. They give some guys 40-100 games in the firing line and watch them implode and others they give half a dozen and drop them if they dont peel off hundreds?
These are guys that have had less than spectacular careers themselves and claim they were on the receiving end of the same stuff they're happily dishing out? Should they be anywhere near selections?

Richie has lost pace and is not looking good at all, which is a big worry. What's going on there? Doubles the need for Evans.

[secretzimbo]

If Ervine does get dropped/retires after this game, they'll make Masakadza or Madhevere the captain so they can't be dropped.

People are getting silly now. It’s only a month or so since they made Campbell captain on debut when both Wes and Welly and multiple other black players were in the side. So this sort of point is silly.

[secretzimbo]

There are people acting like Nick Welch not being picked has led to us having a disaster bowling?!

[secretzimbo]

Only other point I didn’t mention in my post from last night is I thought Raza did a really good job, bowled approx 20 overs consecutively from one end and held that end down well without letting things get too out of control and allowed us to rotate our seamers after the Ngarava injury.

[Googly]

There's no reason for him to do either. He's having a poor run atm, it happens. Some tough games coming up as well. I'm pretty sure he's wants to play them and see where he's at.
I'm pretty sure Williams, Ervine, Raza and Taylor have their eyes on the WC as the last hurrah. If they're up for it.
If theyre playing marginally they'll still have a go if theyre selected. They'll feel they've earned the right. They would keep a few players out that need that experience that will be our next generation of players though. Its a tricky one.

Dunno if you read the Williams article where he said he's had ups and downs, but more downs. If you consider BT, Sean and Craig theyre the 3 whites that have been in the system for many years. They're all very different people and its been a pretty isolated existence, I'd think not a lot if fun in cricketing terms and in a team environment. Its a stressful existence. They get beaten most times, haven't played the cricket they wanted to, been in weak teams, there's always been hectic politics, way beyond what you'd experience in most other cricketing environments. Quite hard to take the positives out of that. You end up thinking only of yourself.
That's happened to a lot of the players actually, its not just a white thing. There have been some toxic environments they've all had to deal with. I'd think the two best environments they've experienced have probably been under Houghton and Sammonds.

I think the toughest thing for a good cricketer in a team that continually gets beaten is knowing there are a couple of players in the side that shouldn't be there. That has to be really disheartening and frustrating. I'd think most of the animosity has come from that. Then of course there will be money issues. At the end of the day it creates a situation where everyone just looks out for themselves.

The test captaincy would likely go to any surviving member of the big 4. Any of the captaincies of all formats actually. I dont think Williams will play under Raza, there's a clash there. They're absolutely busting for Dion to kick on because he is captain material. He's sharp. If he doesn't, or takes a while to establish himself the captaincy will be a big issue.

[TapsC2]

I haven't lost hope with the bat yet to be honest. They literally have nothing to lose. Play your natural game. It will most likely rain a bit tomorrow. There pitch is flat. It's all about mentality from here. A draw is possible